Council Approves Spending On School Roofs, Technology Upgrade

Following a recommendation by the School Committee, the Town Council voted 4 to 1 to invest $3.7 million in local schools Monday night.

The money will pay for repairs to the roofs at Meadowbrook, Frenchtown and the high school, as well as technology upgrades at the high school. The Meadowbrook roof will cost $1.1 million to repair; the high school roof will cost $1.8 million; the Frenchtown roof will cost about $200,000 and the technology upgrades at the high school are estimated to cost about $665,000.

The financing for these four projects will come from savings realized on the Cole Middle School construction project and the high school renovation project. In 2008, East Greenwich residents voted to spend $52 million to build a new middle school and make improvements to the high school entrance and science wing.

Councilor Michael Kiernan, a staunch critic of the plan, said he voted against the school improvements because he didn’t feel it was appropriate to use money approved for one set of projects on others. He raised similar concerns at a previous council meeting.

“I still don’t feel it is in the purview of the referendum,” he said. “I think we are overstepping, especially with the school technology.”

Councilor Henry Boezi has been . He said he looks forward to supporting what’s been called the “full fix” for Meadowbrook.

Before recommending just the roof fixes and the technology upgrade to the council, the School Committee considered recommending fixing also the floor at Meadowbrook, which parents and construction officials have said is causing moisture problems in the building.

School Committee Chairwoman Deidre Gifford, who attended Monday’s council meeting with three of her colleagues, said the school district has already begun to move forward on a study of possible fixes and costs for the floor issues at Meadowbrook.

She said the School Committee will likely recommend to the Council further fixes to Meadowbrook, but she said she does not how extensive or expensive those fixes will be.

Jon Winikur, of Strategic Building Solutions, the company that has provided costs estimates to the School Committee for all these projects, said the full floor fix at Meadowbrook will likely cost about $3 million.

The council initially planned to vote on the matter next week, but council President Michael Isaacs said the vote was moved up one week because several council members could not make next week's meeting.